The Green Glossary – environmental terms explained

Written by Adam

I can see the letters c, g and e getting a workout, but Life Goggles presents its brief list of environmental terms and their meanings. In case you ever wondered. If you have any to add, then please let us know.

Air pollution – contaminants or substances in the air that interfere with human health or produce other harmful environmental effects. Read our “What is Air Pollution?” article for further information.

Alternative energy – usually environmentally friendly, this is energy from uncommon sources such as wind power or solar energy, not fossil fuels.

Alternative fuels – similar to above. Not petrol or diesel but different transportation fuels like natural gas, methanol, bio fuels and electricity.

Carbon neutral – a company, person or action either not producing any carbon emissions or if it does have been offsett elsewhere.

Carbon offsetting – see offsetting.

Carbon rationing – limiting the amount of carbon you use each year. Carbon rationing action groups (crags) help you reduce your carbon footprint. Find out more here.

Carbon sink – carbon dioxide is naturally absorbed by things such as oceans, forests and peat bogs. These are called carbon sinks.

Carbon tax – a charge on fossil fuels based on their carbon content. Find out more at the Carbon Tax Center.

Chlorofluorocarbons – CFCs are man-made chemical compounds containing carbon, chlorine, fluorine and sometimes hydrogen. Often used in older fridges and air conditions, the chlorine in CFCs damage the ozone layer.

Climate change – a change in temperature and weather patterns due to human activity like burning fossil fuels.

Composting – a process whereby organic wastes, including food and paper, decompose naturally, resulting in a produce rich in minerals and ideal for gardening and farming as a soil conditioner, mulch, resurfacing material, or landfill cover.

Fossil fuel – coal, oil and natural gas. A fuel that’s been made by the decomposition of fossilised plants and animals.

Fuel cell – a technology that uses an electrochemical process to convert energy into electrical power. Often powered by natural gas, fuel cell power is cleaner than grid-connected power sources. In addition, hot water is produced as a by-product.

Glass recycling – Glass bottles and jars can be recycled endlessly. That means that unlike some other recycled products, a recycled bottle can be recycled into another glass bottle. And another, and so on forever. Find out more about the endless cycle of glass.

Global warming – an increase in the average temperature of the earth, attributed to the burning of fossil fuels.

Graywater – see Greywater.

Green design – a design, usually architectural, conforming to environmentally sound principles of building, material and energy use. A green building, for example, might make use of solar panels, skylights, and recycled building materials.

Green Technology Initiative – a consortium of companies pioneering green computing with the aim of helping to educate and inspire British businesses to become more energy efficient and environmentally responsible with their IT infrastructure. Read more about the Green Technology Initiative..

Greenhouse effect – explains global warming. It’s the process that raises the temperature of air in the lower atmosphere due to heat trapped by greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and ozone.

Greywater – waste water that does not contain sewage or fecal contamination (such as from the shower) and can be reused for irrigation after filtration. Read more about greywater here.

Offsetting – the process of reducing carbon emissions by ‘offsetting’ it. An example is by taking a flight and in compensation paying a company to plant trees to equal the carbon use out. For example.

Oil – fossil fuel used to produce petrol etc and other materials such as plastics.

Organic – while it technically refers to molecules made up of two ore more atoms of carbon, it’s generally now used as a term for the growth of vegetables etc without the use or artificial pesticides and fertiliser.

Ozone layer – in the upper atmosphere about 15 miles above sea level it forms a protective layer which shields the earth from excessive ultraviolet radiation and occurs naturally.

Perceived obsolesence – The art of making products that go out of fashion or “date”, so you buy more slightly different ones, for example the fashion industry. Also see Planned obsolesence.

Photovoltaic panels – solar panels that convert sunlight into electricity. Power is produced when sunlight strikes the semiconductor material and creates an electrical current.

Planned obsolesence – The art of making a product break/fail after a certain amount of time. Not so soon that you will blame the manufacturer, but soon enough for you to buy another one and make more profit for them. Also see Perceived obsolesence.

Recycle symbol – the chasing arrow symbol used to show that a product or package can be recycled. The three arrows on the symbol represent different components of the recycling process. The top arrow represents the collection of recyclable materials. The second arrow (bottom right) represents the recyclables being processed into recycled products and the third arrow on the bottom left represents when the consumer actually buys a product with recycled content.

Recycling – the process of collecting, sorting, and reprocessing old material into usable raw materials.

Reduce – not using or buying products in the forst place so less waste, less recycling and less reusing.

Renewable energy – alternative energy sources such as wind power or solar energy that can keep producing energy indefinitely without being used up.

Renewable resources – Like renewable energy, resources such as wind, sunlight and trees that regenerate. See Non-renewable resources.

Reuse – before throwing away or recycling, a product that can be reused until its time to recycle.

Solar heating – heat from the sun is absorbed by collectors and transferred by pumps or fans to a storage unit for later use or to the house interior directly. Controls regulating the operation are needed. Or the heat can be transferred to water pumps for hot water.

Sulfur dioxide – SO2 is a heavy, smelly gas which can be condensed into a clear liquid. It’s used to make sulfuric acid, bleaching agents, preservatives and refrigerants and a major source of air pollution.

[…] Have you been confused by terms such as “carbon sink,” “offsetting,” or “vermicomposting”? Well, be confused no more! Thanks again to Adam over at LifeGoggles, who has compiled an incredibly handy glossary of commonly used environmental terms. […]

I am doing some research on lunchbox safety and reusable water bottle safety. A couple of terms that you might want to add into your green glossary includes: 1) “BPA” (BPA is now considered bad in plastics that touch your food or water–look for “BPA-Free” when you buy, and get rid of plastic bottles and food storage containers that might have BPA in them), and 2) lunchbox vinyl–lead is often used in the vinyl, and many lunchbox companies are now specifying their products are lead-free.

Great list of definitions: Offsetting – the process of reducing carbon emissions by ‘offsetting’ it. An example is by taking a flight and in compensation paying a company to plant trees to equal the carbon use out. —– hope you don’t mind if i quoted it for a paper I wrote!

To conserve the global environment and achieve a sustainable society, it is necessary to limit environmental impact to a level within the Earth’s self-recovery capabilities.

To meet this requirement, we must first envision an ideal society and global environment; then we must create a long-term vision to realize our ideals and aggressively promote environmental conservation activities.

I think this is a great glossary. And to everyone reading if you didn’t know what some of these words meant you should probably study them carefully, because they are very quickly becoming part of everyday vernacular.

Today global warming is big question in front of us, but we are not doing anything to save Mother Earth and human beings. Due to global warming normal earth temperature will increase up to two per cent in the coming years and due to this agriculture output will be reduced, Flood and famine will become common feature in the coming days, due to higher temperature animals can’t survive and it will lead to disturbance in natural eco system, destroy forest etc.

Recycling is an important strategy in conserving the world’s scarce natural resources. Recycling reduces the need for landfills and other disposal facilities, thereby allowing local lands to be used in more environmentally preferable ways. Recycling is a very important thing to do so that we can help our environment.